JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday canceled a visit to the United Arab Emirates, citing a diplomatic disagreement with Jordan, in an embarrassing setback for his re-election campaign just days before the vote.
Netanyahu hopes to use the public with the Crown Prince of the UAE – their first public meeting since the countries established ties in September last year – to boost their campaign ahead of the March 23 elections. Instead, he must explain to the public why his trip was canceled and did damage control to protect Israel’s fragile relationship with the Jordanians.
Netanyahu’s office says it has difficulty coordinating flights over Jordan’s airspace after Jordan’s Crown Prince canceled a visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, a sensitive holy site in Jordan’s custody, over disagreements over security arrangements. .
Speaking at a news conference, Netanyahu said there was a misunderstanding. Once it was resolved, he said it was too late to fly.
“I can fly through the sky of Jordan,” he said. “Until it was coordinated, today’s visit was not possible.”
He said he spoke by telephone with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and agreed that he would visit “very soon”. He also said that Emiratis informed him about plans to invest 10 billion dollars in Israel.
There were no immediate comments from the UAE.
With Israel now stuck in the fourth election campaign in two years, Netanyahu is once again trying to describe himself as a uniquely qualified experienced statesman to lead the country through his many diplomatic and security challenges.
A key pillar of this strategy, Netanyahu’s close ties to former President Donald Trump, is no longer relevant now that a new administration is in the White House. But Netanyahu continues to show that Israel’s agreements establish ties with the UAE and three other Arab countries, all mediated by Trump, as one of his proudest achievements.
However, these agreements came at the expense of the Palestinians and neighboring Jordan, which after Egypt became the second Arab country to make peace with Israel in 1994.
The immediate cause of this week’s disputes came from Jordan’s role as custodian of the composition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. It is also the holiest place for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount and have long been a hotbed for tensions in the Middle East.
The Crown Prince of Jordan, Hussein bin Abdullah II, had planned to visit the mosque to pray on the Muslim holiday marking the ascension of the Prophet Muhammad to heaven from there. But he returned to the border due to a disagreement with Israeli authorities over the number of armed escorts that could accompany him, Israeli media reported.
Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, accused Israel of changing the “last-minute” agreements and forced the Crown Prince to cancel the visit.
“His Highness has decided that he does not want to interrupt this peaceful night of prayer,” Safadi told a summit in Paris. “We cannot accept the Israeli interference in Al-Aqsa affairs.”
Oded Eran, the former Israeli ambassador to Jordan, said the spit reflected a deeper deterioration in relations in recent years.
“The major problem is that there is no dialogue between the number one in Jordan and Israel, that is, between the prime minister and the king of Jordan,” he said.
This lack of confidence was highlighted by Israel’s plans last year to annex parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel has suspended the annexation plan as part of its UAE settlement agreement, but Eran said Jordanians remain deeply suspicious.
Jordan, which hosts a large Palestinian population, sees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in neighboring the West Bank as a key interest, and any Israeli annexation would likely destroy any remaining hope for Palestinian independence. Israel and the Palestinians have not had substantive peace talks for more than a decade.
“At the very least, they need a political process and a move toward a solution,” said Eran, now a senior researcher at the Institute for Homeland Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank. “The process itself is very important to Jordanians, and when it’s not there, there are certainly concerns.”
Earlier in the day, Netanyahu’s office announced that his wife, Sara, had been hospitalized with an appendix infection. She was said to remain hospitalized for several days.
The canceled trip and the medical emergency appeared to create unwanted distractions for Netanyahu’s campaign, at least for a day. The Israeli leader focused his campaign on his efforts to vaccinate the Israeli public against coronavirus.
In just over two months, Israel has vaccinated about 80 percent of its adult population, allowing authorities to begin reopening schools, shops, restaurants and museums just before election day.
However, opinion polls still show Netanyahu stuck in a tight race against a crowded field of provocateurs. Netanyahu’s Likud is projected to emerge as the largest party, but without enough support from the Allies to form a ruling governing coalition.
The trip to the United Arab Emirates could have helped the campaign breathe. It could also help divert attention from Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption process, which is set to resume on April 5, and public anger over the economic damage caused by the repeated coronavirus blockage over the past year.
Gideon Rahat, a political scientist at the Jewish University and a senior colleague at Israel’s Institute for Democracy, said Netanyahu suffered an obstacle on Thursday, but still had time to check the agenda and correct things.
For example, Netanyahu could still find a way to visit the UAE before the election, Rahat said. And the vaccination campaign could help him more as the economy comes back to life.
Late Thursday, Netanyahu hosted the leaders of Hungary and the Czech Republic for talks on co-operation in their coronavirus strategies.
The Czech Republic also opened a diplomatic office in Jerusalem, offering rare support to Israel’s claims to the disputed city. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, to be the capital of their future state. Most countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv due to disputes.
“You can call it a bad day for Netanyahu, but no more,” Rahat said.